This week in animal research 14/10/16

Roger Yonchien Tsien was the creator of a rainbow of fluorescent probes that lit up biology including the example above. The impact of these probes on the elucidation of science is hard to exaggerate.

http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v538/n7624/full/538172a.html

Young ovaries rejuvenate older mice and extend their lifespan

Jeffrey Mason at Utah State University in Logan removed the ovaries of 10 mice that were 12 months old and had gone through oestropause, a transition similar to the human menopause. He replaced these with ovaries taken from 60-day old mice – roughly equivalent to people in their early 20s in terms of ageing. Four months later, the numbers of naive T-cells, immune cells that respond to new infections, had risen by approximately 67%.

"Fascinating." "A complete first." "Striking." "Too amazing to be real." Those are some of the reactions researchers are having to a provocative, baffling monkey study suggesting that a monoclonal antibody used to treat inflammatory bowel disease in humans might lead to a "functional" cure of an infection with the AIDS virus.

Dr Cindy Buckmaster explains the different between 'animal research' and 'animal testing' in an article for Discover Animals, before explaining why both remains a key part of understanding and treating disease.

A sad day at the Garden as they mourn the loss of their beloved Rabbs’ fringe-limbed tree frog. He was the last documented member of a species relatively new to science. Found in Panama on an expedition to save animals from a deadly disease, our dear Rabbs’ frog was estimated to be about 12 years old.